268 Papers from the Marine Biological Laboratory at Tortugas. 



especially on the right fin they were so mixed up with the line of smaller 

 and fainter ones formed on the extreme edges in the crenations, and further 

 because the inturnings of these fins next to the ventrals had the spots 

 confluent to form white stripes or splotches. The regular arrangement of 

 these spots in very definite rows was noticeable. These spots, which were of 

 very uniform size throughout, were surrounded by faint, dark circles, thus 

 giving the ocellus-like appearance recorded by so many authors. None of 

 them had the whiter centers noted in my other specimens. 



The dorsal fin had two large spots at its base and on its hinder surface 

 a white splotch edged with black. Under the spines was a white streak, 

 and below that (in the middle of the side of the tail) a long, pointed, dark 

 streak. Careful examination of this specimen after immersion in formalin 

 showed the presence of faint transverse striations on the mid-pectoral region. 

 However, the only lines visible in the photograph (fig. i , plate i) are fin rays. 



Examination of the photograph of one of Mr. Coles's huge specimens 

 taken in 19 12 shows that this ray had on the dorsal fin a large white splotch 

 and back of this a black border. At the base of the fin is another large 

 white splotch, beneath this a long dark streak ending in a backwardly 

 directed point, and lower still the white side of the tail (see fig. 9, plate v). 



Attention will now be called to the spots on the dorsal surfaces of 

 these rays. One of these, a male 6 feet 11 inches wide, had, in the region 

 of the bases of the pelvic fins and at the root of the tail, a few irregularly 

 shaped markings formed by the coalesence of two or more spots, but no 

 distinct ocellations. Another, a female 7 feet 7 inches wide, had practically 

 the whole dorsal surface covered with white spots with dark centers. How- 

 ever, it is a third specimen, a female 7 feet 2 inches wide, in which these 

 ocellated spots are most perfectly developed. Figures 9, 10, and 11, plate 

 V, are lateral, frontal, and ventral views of this ray. Study of these figures 

 shows that these eyed spots are formed by tv/o or more spots coalescing 

 to form u or c-shaped spots and that these finally close up to make white 

 rings with dark centers. 



There now remain to be described the four Florida specimens. Three 

 of these, it will be remembered, were taken at Key West by Dr. Mayer 

 on May 10 and were preserved by freezing in a large block of ice. On May 

 29 the first of these, a male 2^ feet wide, was examined. The epidermis 

 on this specimen was beginning to slip, but those parts still covered by it 

 were a blackish-brown, those from which it had slipped were a lavender 

 gray. The spots were found all over the dorsum, but those on the head, and 

 especially in front of the eyes, were smaller than those on the other parts of 

 the body. In the middle parts of the back and on the wings the spots were 

 larger and many were dumb-bell-shaped. An average spot measured 11 

 by 13 mm. There were about 27 spots along the front edge of the right 

 pectoral. When the epidermis was pulled off the spots in it were a smoky- 

 gray, those in the underlying skin were cream-colored. No transverse 

 lines were visible either in the epidermis or in the true skin. 



